Paris (AFP)
Bouygues will not be affected financially by the cyber attack which struck it at the beginning of the year, assured the group on Thursday, its CEO denying any negligence in matters of security.
"We have a chance in our misfortune, it is that we do not have an industrial activity driven by (IT)", underlined Martin Bouygues, CEO of the French giant.
Bouygues' construction subsidiary was hit in late January by a ransomware cyberattack, the effects of which lasted at least a week.
"We cannot say that this has affected the production of Bouygues Construction," insisted Mr. Bouygues.
After making these remarks, the group made it clear to AFP that it should be understood that there would be "no impact" from this attack on the group's accounts.
Bouygues lodged a complaint and a judicial investigation was opened by the Paris public prosecutor's office for, among other things, "extortion by organized gang" and "access to and maintenance in an automated data processing system".
According to an IT expert interviewed by AFP and claiming to have contacted the perpetrators of the attacks, the hackers demanded ten million dollars from Bouygues, which did not confirm this information.
"We cannot say, a priori, that we were negligent about the protection needs", also assured Mr. Bouygues on Thursday.
"We were attacked by something new, by a new kind of virus", but "the group reacted very very well", he concluded.
© 2020 AFP